The problem is that US AI labs have done everything in their power to alienate real programmers whereas the chinese labs aren't gate-kept by people who feel inferior to pros. If you say you want to optimize this GPU kernel you are fired for "wasting dev time". If you say I spun up an agents in a "loop" and went home you are rewarded.

Even if management was right about "premature" optimization, though they are assuredly wrong, setting up that kind of incentive structure will make top talent leave. Some, I assume, are good people, but they aren't bringing their best.